Wake County manager to retire :: WRAL.com

David Cooke is retiring as Wake County Manager after a 17 year career there. I couldn’t help but think what Cooke might do after he retires, since I happen to know of a local opening for city manager.

Hmm … I wonder if Cooke has any plans?

Wake County Manager David Cooke announced Thursday that he plans to retire at the end of November.Cooke has worked for the county for 17 years, the last 13 as county manager."The past 13 years have been truly wonderful and gratifying," Cooke said in a statement. "I have been very fortunate to work with very capable and dedicated elected officials, smart and talented county employees and an innovative management team. Our collective efforts are what make Wake County a great place to live, work and play."

via Wake County manager to retire :: WRAL.com.

WordPress brute force hack attacks

Since this spring, the world’s WordPress sites have seen a surge of brute-force hacking attempts, where scripts running from “botnets” have been steadily trying one dictionary word after another in an attempt to take over their victim sites.

I was alarmed to discover this traffic hitting my website earlier this week and was stymied as to how to prevent it. Normally when one gets a hacking attempt, it’s a simple thing to block that site’s IP address using firewall rules. In this case, however, the attackers are using a massive array of hacked computers scattered around the world. Each hack attempt comes from a different IP address, making it impractical to block them all.

Wondering if my site would soon fall to these script kiddies, I took some time to configure some analysis tools to get a better idea of what I was facing.

I needn’t have worried. This is what these genius password attempts look like:
Continue reading →

Your gun rights end at my property line

Let me preface this post to say that I support all the rights we Americans enjoy through the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. I put on a uniform and faced down America’s enemies in order to uphold those rights, so I take them very seriously.

Thus my support of our rights includes Americans’ right to bear arms. I’ve fired weapons many times during my military service and stood countless watches as my ship’s roving patrol, armed with a .45. Like it or not, guns are a reality in our country and I fully support the right to protect oneself and one’s property with whatever means are necessary.
Continue reading →

Poor password management by banks

I recently signed up to the site of one of my (many) 401K administrators. When it came time to pick a password for my account, I was disappointed to see the kind of restrictions the bank put on my choice of password:

Password requirements:

Must contain 8 – 20 characters
Must contain at least one letter and one number
Is case sensitive (e.g. “MyPassword” with an uppercase “M” and “P” is different from “mypassword” with a lowercase “m” and “p”)
Cannot contain any spaces
Cannot contain special characters (e.g. !#$%^&@,;*( )+~?<>‘\”)
Cannot contain more than 2 of the same consecutive letters or numbers (e.g. aaa or 222)
Cannot be the same as your previous 6 passwords
Cannot be the same as your Username

I understand some of these, but not allowing spaces or special characters? That significantly reduces the complexity of available passwords, making the password easier to crack. Now perhaps they get around this by giving the user x number of tried before locking her out, but why not just allow special characters?
Continue reading →

Nathan Woessner, rescued from sand dune, now in good condition

I remember reading the news that this 6-year-old boy had survived after being buried in a sand dune for hours. His condition was just upgraded to “good” and he could make a full recovery.

There are still things that science cannot fully explain. It’s a miracle this boy is alive.

The boy rescued last week after being buried for hours in an Indiana sand dune has had his condition upgraded to good as his health continues to improve, hospital officials said today.

Thursday, word came that Nathan Woessner was sitting up, watching cartoons and talking. He was taken off a ventilator and had begun to breathe on his own.

via Nathan Woessner, rescued from sand dune, now in good condition – chicagotribune.com.

Helen Thomas, bulldog reporter, passes away

Helen Thomas, legendary White House reporter, died today.

Helen Thomas, whose keen curiosity, unquenchable drive and celebrated constancy made her a trailblazing White House correspondent in a press corps dominated by men and later the dean of the White House briefing room, died Saturday at home in Washington. She was 92.

Ms. Thomas covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama for United Press International and, later, Hearst Newspapers. To her colleagues, she was the unofficial but undisputed head of the press corps — her status ratified by her signature line at the end of every White House news conference, “Thank you, Mr. President.”

I loved Helen Thomas. She was a reporter who wasn’t afraid to ask the tough questions – and to keep on asking them if she didn’t get a straight answer.
Continue reading →

Sen. Hunt’s school board bill

Sen. Neal Hunt sponsored a bill stripping the Wake County Board of Education’s responsibility for school construction and giving it to the Wake County Commissioners.

In the Senate debate on the bill, Sen. Hunt claimed it was a “common sense bill” that would save taxpayers money. He cited an offer to purchase a school site that was twice the property’s appraised value.

The only problem is that the purchase was vetted first by a committee consisting of citizens jointly appointed by the school board and the Wake Commissioners. It wasn’t just the school board’s responsibility.

And do you think the inflated price had anything to do with the fact that the committee co-chair Billie Redmond’s Trademark Properties real estate firm stood to make $250,000 on the sale? Certainly not.

Ultimately, both boards rejected the offer and, in any case, the Wake Commissioners always have the last say in land purchases. So why the need for a separate bill? It’s just another example of the state butting into the business of local governments. These supposedly small-government Republicans are anything but.

Science museum scavenger hunt champions!

Scavenger hunt champions!

Scavenger hunt champions!


Thursday evening the family and I signed up for the first ever scavenger hunt in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The Natural Science museum has been our favorite family museum ever since we had kids. We know it very, very well, so when the opportunity came up to participate in a scavenger hunt we were ready!

A couple dozen families showed up for the hunt, each one given a small booklet with the clues in it. The teams had one hour to complete the hunt, with the organizer saying he would be surprised if anyone did complete the hunt.

But the Turners, competing as the “Absolute Zeros,” did complete the hunt, getting most (if not all) of the answers correct (we were not allowed to keep our booklet so that the answers might be used again in a future hunt). At the end, we were awarded a prize for one of the most creative team names (we wanted the coolest name we could think of) and the grand prize for being scavenger hunt champions! That included museum water bottles, free tickets to the Dinosaurs in Motion exhibit, tote bags, and a sweet backpack donated by Great Outdoor Provision Company (which retails for $100).

Regardless of whether we won or lost, though, we had a blast exploring our favorite museum in Raleigh. We hope to participate again in the future!

Game Change

Game Change

Game Change

Over the weekend I watched the HBO movie Game Change, based on events in the MaCain-Palin presidential campaign of 2008. I expected to be bored with it, already knowing the outcome and that we’re already one election removed from it. Instead, I was absolutely captivated. The acting was superb, with Julianne Moore’s depiction of Palin especially noteworthy. Moore brought Palin to life, depicting a very complex character with skill and pity. Woody Harrelson’s performance was also strong, as was the supporting cast. Ed Harris gave a very convincing performance as McCain as well, though the story centered around Palin’s evolution as a VP candidate.

If you want a fascinating view into the world of presidential campaigning, rent Game Change. Just don’t turn up the sound too loudly as the dialogue is about 30% profanity (acceptable in the context, however).